We're members of Parliament. We're elected to represent our constituents. Whether I'm sitting on a committee or in the House of Commons, for me, the responsibilities are the same. I play by the rules in both places.
People are saying that the Speaker of the House took away the right of the Leader of the Opposition to remain in the House. It wasn't because he used a certain word. That isn't why his right was taken away. His right was taken away because he refused to apologize to the Speaker. The same thing is happening here. However, in this case, Mr. Drouin was much wiser, so to speak. He took matters into his own hands and formally apologized. In the other case, the member of Parliament was expelled. Contrary to what people say, it wasn't because of the word “wacko”. It wasn't because of that word. Canadians know that. This is serious.
As the Leader of the Opposition who aspires to become prime minister of Canada, he had to take responsibility when the Speaker of the House made it clear that his language wasn't acceptable in the House. The Speaker is the arbiter. That's democracy. We trust the Speaker of the House of Commons. We ask the Speaker to ensure that democracy is respected. We ask the Speaker to ensure that people follow the guidelines and procedures in the House of Commons.
I know that my mother and father wouldn't be happy with me if the arbiter responsible for ensuring democracy in the Canadian institution said that I used unacceptable language. We elected this arbiter democratically. All 338 members of Parliament voted or had the right to vote.
This person has responsibilities. The Speaker doesn't make a decision simply because he finds comments unacceptable and wants to make a decision. He must ensure that the rules of the game are followed. He asked the member for Carleton to apologize. Understandably, when someone reacts emotionally, they can make a mistake. I could make this type of mistake. The Leader of the Opposition may make a mistake. It's understandable. However, he must apologize. The arbiter of democracy simply made that request, nothing more complicated.
It pains me that the person who aspires to become prime minister refuses to apologize for making comments that the judge of democracy finds unacceptable. That alone is serious. It's hard to look at yourself in the mirror after having done this.
I know that most of us were in the House. I don't know whether you remember, Mr. Chair, but I believe that about 200 people were in the House.
That's one thing.
We also know that Canadians watch the House proceedings on television. My parents tuned in every day. They hoped to see me in the House, but I didn't make it there in time.
Let me get back to the number of people that I referred to earlier. The audience consisted of 150 to 200 young people between the ages of 15 and 25, all of whom witnessed the situation. What are they now saying about the elected officials?
I can imagine the discussion that these young people may have had with their parents at the dinner table, where education often begins. They undoubtedly told their parents how proud they were to have visited the Parliament of Canada, where they were told that laws are passed to ensure that Canada continues to prosper, for example. They then said that they heard a member of Parliament use unacceptable language to describe a person and that they found it surprising to hear this type of language used in such a place.
I can imagine the rest of their conversation at the table, with the parents then asking the young person if anyone had spoken up to say that this type of language was unacceptable. I can also imagine the young person then responding that the Speaker of the House of Commons said that the language was unacceptable and asked the person to apologize, which the person didn't do. Not only did the member of Parliament not apologize, but he continued to speak as the leader of the official opposition, the person who aspires to become prime minister.
I think that this situation is even more sensitive than the situation brought on by our colleague.
I tried to imagine the conversation between the parent and the young person after the young person explained that the language used wasn't—